At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.

I suppose my liking for Italy is partly atavism, my family are of the old Roman stock. They came from the Alps north of Venice.

In large Victorian houses with many rooms and heavy doors, the occupants could be mysterious and exciting to one another in a way that those who live in rackety developments can never hope to be. Not even the lust of a Lord Byron could survive the fact of Levittown.

In writing and politicking, it's best not to think about it, just do it.

It used to be the custom in this country that when you had made a career and were mature in judgment, you went to the Senate to give something back t the Republic. The idea that at age 25 you go out and buy a blow dryer and starting running for office is not what the founders had in mind

Congress no longer declares war or makes budgets. So that's the end of the constitution as a working machine.

The only absolute attainment is absolute abandonment.